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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Beautiful story, told from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl. I loved the way the story unfolded, and the character development of the two sisters.
One of the best books I have read in awhile. I was moved to tears. The relationships are so real, and the voice of June feels so authenic. So thankful to my friend @chattynatty for providing me with the experience of this read. Highly recommend this story of a young girl who loses her uncle to AIDS.
In Carol Rifka Brunt’s incredibly moving debut novel, “Tell the Wolves I’m Home,” it is the 1980s and 14-year-old June Elbus is losing her favorite person in the world, her uncle and godfather, Finn. A celebrated painter, Finn Weiss is dying of a shameful new illness that can only be talked about in hushed whispers.
The novel opens with June and her sister Greta sitting for a portrait her uncle is painting of them. Every Sunday they sit for him, and every Sunday June wonders if it will be the last time she sees him and his apartment full of quirky, treasured items: a Russian teapot, a canning jar full of guitar “pickles,” soft Turkish carpets.
As he’s painting, Finn looks over at them and says, “It won’t be long now,” and June does not know if he means the painting or his dying. A loner who feels as if she is in her pretty, talented sister’s shadow, June only knows that Finn is the person who understands and loves her best. He has a pet nickname for her, Crocodile, and he brings her to concerts and restaurants. They share a special affinity for the medieval period and the music of Mozart, especially Requiem. Their unique bond is the most important thing in June’s life.
After Finn dies, June discovers more and more about her uncle’s private life, including a life partner she knew nothing about. At the funeral she sees a tall, skinny man outside, a man her parents say is not welcome and will not say any more about. Greta is the one to drop the bombshell on her—that is the man who killed Uncle Finn.
After the funeral, a package arrives in the mail and in it is Finn’s gold, red and blue Russian teapot, along with a plea to meet. A tentative, secretive friendship develops between June and this mysterious man, though she knows her family will not approve and she is inwardly jealous of someone else who had so much of Finn’s attention. How could her beloved Finn have kept something as important as a partner from her? Was he actually a murderer who callously killed Finn? As time goes on, despite uncertainties on both sides, each finds in the other pieces of the man they both loved deeply.
“Tell the Wolves I’m Home” delves into themes of coming-of-age, love, loss, shame, and healing. Though events are taking place in the 1980s, the book feels topical with the current political climate focused on gay marriage and civil rights. Sweet and heartbreaking at the same time, this is an unforgettable read.
The novel opens with June and her sister Greta sitting for a portrait her uncle is painting of them. Every Sunday they sit for him, and every Sunday June wonders if it will be the last time she sees him and his apartment full of quirky, treasured items: a Russian teapot, a canning jar full of guitar “pickles,” soft Turkish carpets.
As he’s painting, Finn looks over at them and says, “It won’t be long now,” and June does not know if he means the painting or his dying. A loner who feels as if she is in her pretty, talented sister’s shadow, June only knows that Finn is the person who understands and loves her best. He has a pet nickname for her, Crocodile, and he brings her to concerts and restaurants. They share a special affinity for the medieval period and the music of Mozart, especially Requiem. Their unique bond is the most important thing in June’s life.
After Finn dies, June discovers more and more about her uncle’s private life, including a life partner she knew nothing about. At the funeral she sees a tall, skinny man outside, a man her parents say is not welcome and will not say any more about. Greta is the one to drop the bombshell on her—that is the man who killed Uncle Finn.
After the funeral, a package arrives in the mail and in it is Finn’s gold, red and blue Russian teapot, along with a plea to meet. A tentative, secretive friendship develops between June and this mysterious man, though she knows her family will not approve and she is inwardly jealous of someone else who had so much of Finn’s attention. How could her beloved Finn have kept something as important as a partner from her? Was he actually a murderer who callously killed Finn? As time goes on, despite uncertainties on both sides, each finds in the other pieces of the man they both loved deeply.
“Tell the Wolves I’m Home” delves into themes of coming-of-age, love, loss, shame, and healing. Though events are taking place in the 1980s, the book feels topical with the current political climate focused on gay marriage and civil rights. Sweet and heartbreaking at the same time, this is an unforgettable read.
This is a bittersweet story, set in a time when AIDS was terrifying everyone and they still didn't even know quite what it was. The setting, the descriptions, the distance between the two sisters, the quiet yet powerful emotions made this an engaging, sad sad sad read.
I really enjoyed this - it has this haunting sad quality to it, but also a kind of determination of spirit, perseverance in the face of really crappy stuff, and a sweetness, too - some of the things that Finn says about "the best people" or about feeling okay about death because you have always lived exactly the life you wanted are so very lovely. I'm not normally one for novels about teenagers or coming of age stories, but I think this managed to bridge that and be a book that handled the coming of age stuff really well while not beating me over the head with it (like so many books tend to do). I got swept up in the story and the characters and I was really sad to finish it last night and not be part of it anymore.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Worth the sobbing on the couch next a confused spouse.
For me this was a compelling story, and I enjoyed it, but I often felt like I was reading a young-adult book because of the voice of the 14-year-old narrator. I've been thinking about this because I've read plenty of books where a young girl tells the story in a credible young-girl voice, and I don't think those sound like YA books. However, I haven't figured out why the voice bothered me in this book.
The story is certainly adult (although mature teenagers could surely handle it), and the emotional depth kept me hooked. I teared up several times. In the first sentence we learn that June's beloved uncle will soon die from AIDS-related illness. The book centers on this terrible loss and how June feels about it. Uncle Finn was the only person in the world who really "got" June, and if you were a slightly weird 14-year-old, you will empathize.
It's not a one-note story. June's slightly older sister, Greta, is a big factor in her life. Greta seems to hate June irrationally and acts mean to her, deliberately, at every opportunity. Their mother seems bitter and unhappy, and some of that seems to go back to the teen years of her and her brother, Finn. I really liked the interweaving of these relationships -- how family members come to behave with one another sometimes buries their actual love, which has not gone away but now cannot be seen.
It's this set of relationships -- not only June and Finn but also Finn and his sister, and June and her sister -- that elevates this story above the usual girl-coming-of-age tale.
I haven't even mentioned Toby. Toby, the AIDS-afflicted partner of Finn, becomes an important figure in June's life. I think it's best you experience that without any prior information, because the development of their association marks another highlight of this story. It's handled well, and it's not a trope I've seen a hundred times before.
P.S. I lived in New York, in Manhattan, in the 1980s. The rise of AIDS was an everyday experience for those of us with gay male friends (everybody I knew who wasn't gay and male had gay male friends, and many of them got sick). I read a few Goodreads reviews where people said they couldn't really connect with the 1980s setting of this book. That wasn't an issue for me.
The story is certainly adult (although mature teenagers could surely handle it), and the emotional depth kept me hooked. I teared up several times. In the first sentence we learn that June's beloved uncle will soon die from AIDS-related illness. The book centers on this terrible loss and how June feels about it. Uncle Finn was the only person in the world who really "got" June, and if you were a slightly weird 14-year-old, you will empathize.
It's not a one-note story. June's slightly older sister, Greta, is a big factor in her life. Greta seems to hate June irrationally and acts mean to her, deliberately, at every opportunity. Their mother seems bitter and unhappy, and some of that seems to go back to the teen years of her and her brother, Finn. I really liked the interweaving of these relationships -- how family members come to behave with one another sometimes buries their actual love, which has not gone away but now cannot be seen.
It's this set of relationships -- not only June and Finn but also Finn and his sister, and June and her sister -- that elevates this story above the usual girl-coming-of-age tale.
I haven't even mentioned Toby. Toby, the AIDS-afflicted partner of Finn, becomes an important figure in June's life. I think it's best you experience that without any prior information, because the development of their association marks another highlight of this story. It's handled well, and it's not a trope I've seen a hundred times before.
P.S. I lived in New York, in Manhattan, in the 1980s. The rise of AIDS was an everyday experience for those of us with gay male friends (everybody I knew who wasn't gay and male had gay male friends, and many of them got sick). I read a few Goodreads reviews where people said they couldn't really connect with the 1980s setting of this book. That wasn't an issue for me.
This book is amazing. A really fantastic story about deep love that differs from the typical romantic kind, grieving, care-taking, and families. There's a lot of other stuff going on too, but the way the author wrote about those themes really impacted me. The story can be sad and it pierced my heart multiple times during my reading, but I never felt depressed or too heavy. This book may talk about dark topics, but above all I feel it's beautiful and unlike any story about grieving that I've ever read. Gorgeous characters and story, highly recommended.